


Romance is Dead

by topicalginger



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, ghost au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 09:03:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17200595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/topicalginger/pseuds/topicalginger
Summary: There aren’t many things to do when you die and your tormented spirit is trapped for eternity in a small apartment. Luckily for Lance Mcclain and Keith Kogane, the fire that had killed them sent them to the afterlife with a few of their most treasured objects. This meant that along with a few stuffed animals, Keith’s knife, and some family photographs, they also had a deck of cards. Unfortunately for them, ghost cards are also see-through.





	Romance is Dead

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I hope you enjoy this fic! 
> 
> It's inspired by the tweet by @klancemyway on twitter and the artwork of @taytei on Tumblr.   
> http://taytei.tumblr.com/post/181312474081/based-on-a-tweet-from-earlier-today-i-kinda-hate
> 
> Also, thank you to my roommate @l-x-ie on Tumblr and my friend Richy for beta-ing
> 
> I'm trying to make this fic humorous but there will be some angst and fluff in there. I will probably be updating this irregularly, but I will do my best to try and release a chapter per week. We'll see how that goes!

There aren’t many things to do when you die and your tormented spirit is trapped for eternity in a small apartment. Luckily for Lance Mcclain and Keith Kogane, the fire that had killed them sent them to the afterlife with a few of their most treasured objects. This meant that along with a few stuffed animals, Keith’s knife, and some family photographs, they also had a deck of cards. Unfortunately for them, ghost cards are also see-through.

On that particular Sunday, Lance’s slightly transparent spectral form was floating near the ceiling of the apartment’s bedroom with his transparent hand of cards doing his best to stop Keith from reading them. 

Keith glanced up at Lance from his place on one of the bare mattresses. “Lance. I’m not gonna cheat. Will you just get down here?”

Lance frowned as he shuffled around a card in his hand. “Nah. I don’t trust like that. I’m in this to win it.” Keith shook his head in exasperation. 

“Got any 3s?”

“Go fish.”

In the several months since the fire, the small room the two ghosts occupied had been repaired. The walls, which had been covered in soot, were repainted a dull blue color. Their ruined possessions had been removed and new beds and dressers had been moved in. They had watched as all signs that they had lived or died in the room were erased. It was only a matter of time before the new, living tenants moved in. Neither of them quite knew what to expect, and neither of them expected for the bedroom door to swing open as Lance was reaching for a card.

The sudden action sent Lance’s cards and Lance himself tumbling down onto the boy below him.

“Ow!”

Lance frowned as he clambered off Keith, “That didn’t even hurt, you dick. You’re already dead.”

“It was a reflex.”

Lance grinned deviously, “Are you saying it was a...phantom pain?”

Keith scoffed and threw his Go Fish hand in Lance’s face. 

The ghosts snapped their attention back to the door as two people pushed into the room, their arms full of boxes.

“Isn’t this great, Hunk? We finally have our own space!”A small girl with a lopsided grin set down her stack of boxes on the desk.“No more parents! No more Matt!”

Hunk, the man she had shouted to, stepped into the room behind her, looking around nervously. “I don’t know, Pidge. It’s kinda small.” He set down a stack of boxes next to the bed where Keith and Lance sat. 

“We’ll make it work.” Hunk still looked unsure.

“Let’s go get the rest of the stuff from the car.” Pidge tugged him back through the door leaving Lance and Keith in stunned silence.

Keith glanced at the boy next to him. Lance stared after the Hunk and Pidge with a strange look in his eye.

“I can’t believe they resold it,” he said in a soft voice.

“They were bound to eventually. They wouldn’t just leave it empty,” Keith observed.

“I know. It’s just weird. To think that...I mean they don’t even know we still live here. Up until now, we could pretend this was still our apartment.”

Keith frowned pensively and studied the space around him. “Well...whatever happens next at least we’re in this together, right?”

Lance smiled and nodded. He seemed like he wanted to say something else, but their conversation was abruptly halted when the door swung open again. 

Keith draped an arm over Lance’s shoulder. “How about we finish our game on the ceiling? I don’t want to end up inside any boxes.”

Lance blinked, composing himself, and then looked up at him, grinning, “You’re going down.”

 

The rest of the move-in was a struggle. Lance preferred to stay out of Hunk and Pidge’s way. He had been walked through several times and found the experience wholly unpleasant, so he had taken to sitting atop the fridge in the kitchen and watching with curiosity as Hunk unpacked an impressive array of culinary instruments.  
Keith, however, refused to avoid the new occupants. Sometimes he would walk straight through them as though they were the ones that were invisible. When Lance questioned his motives Keith shrugged and said, “It's our apartment too. We have a right to live here.”

He used the first few days to spy on them, trying to learn anything he could about the new tenants. Hunk and Pidge were engineering students at the nearby university. It made sense. Keith and Lance had both been Juniors in the aerospace program at Garrison University when they had first found the place. A lot of students lived in this building. The bedrooms were pre-furnished and it was much cheaper than living on campus. He wondered if the sleazy landlord had even told the two of them the apartment’s history. Probably not. He wouldn’t want to lower the property value.

After four days the new tenants had settled in Keith had begun to lose his mind. Lance had caught him trying to put a hand on Pidge’s shoulder, only to see his face fall in dismay as his arm sank straight through her. Sometimes he would try to talk to them or wave his hand in front of their face. These always ended in him shouting at them in frustration, which Lance detested. Lance stuck to his nonconfrontational approach but Keith kept trying. 

That was how he ended up in the kitchen glaring with fiery intensity at a mug on the counter. He inhaled deeply, a habit since he had no need for air, and swatted his hand at it. It passed straight through.

A soft chuckle reached his ears and he scowled up at Lance who was watching him like a cat from the top of the refrigerator. 

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to knock over this mug. What does it look like?” 

Lance laughed again and Keith’s scowl deepened.

“Why?” Lance glanced to where Hunk stood over the stove before stepping down from the fridge to watch Keith’s latest shenanigans.

“I’m trying to...make contact.”

Lance doubled over in raucous laughter.

“Shut up.”

“Keith, are you telling me you’re going all Paranormal Activity on these two poor college kids? Because, if so, that might be the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I’m not trying to ghost murder them! I just want to prove that we’re here in this apartment still.” He turned to face the other boy. “You were the social butterfly. You hate being ignored. Doesn’t it kill you that these people don’t even know we exist?.” 

“Well, no it doesn’t kill me. Poor choice of words.” Keith rolled his eyes, but he didn’t miss the flash of sadness on Lance’s face. “Yeah, it sucks. But your plan is to what? Smash a mug and hope that turns them into believers?”

“To start with, yeah. I just need something noticeable.” He turned his attention back to the mug furrowing his brow. Lance was still watching him. Keith could tell that even though he’d mocked it, Lance was rooting for it to work. He took another meaningless deep breath and focused all his energy on touching the mug. With all of his concentration, he swung at the mug. He could just barely feel the sensation of touch this time as his hand went through and to his amazement, the cup went flying and shattered against the kitchen floor. Hunk turned from the stove with a shriek. Keith turned to Lance who was wide-eyed.

“I...did that?”

Lance nodded, wordlessly.

“Piiiiiidge!” Hunk sounded like he had just seen his life flash before his eyes. The small girl poked her head into the kitchen.

“What?”

“I swear to god that mug...It just flew off the counter.”

Pidge frowned and stepped into the kitchen. “What do you mean?”

“Like one second it was on the counter and then it was on the floor! I wasn’t even near it.”

“What are you suggesting Hunk? A ghost broke your coffee mug?”

Keith felt a flicker of hope.

“No! Of-of course not!”

And then it died.

“Look Hunk you, probably just set it on the edge and it fell off. There’s nothing to worry about, dude.”

Hunk glanced down at the mug and sighed, “You’re probably right. Sorry, it just scared me.”

“No!!” Keith was fuming. He’d tried so hard to send them a message and they excused it as an accident!

Lance chuckled softly. “That’s rough buddy. Maybe try possessing a doll next time.”

Keith sighed and brushed Lance off. He had failed, but it had worked at least for a minute. That was something. A new plan began to stitch together in Keith’s head.

“It’s a shame,” Hunk said, scooping up the shattered mug in his hands, “This was my favorite mug. If it was a ghost, he’s a real dick.”

Keith facepalmed and tried to ignore the sound of Lance dissolving into hysterical laughter behind him.


End file.
